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Permalink Reply by Tangled Macrame on August 8, 2009 at 6:46am

I saw that on hooping.org yesterday. Kind of crazy, considering it's a festival. I might understand banning hoops in small clubs, as a space & safety issue, but if there's plenty of room, what's the problem?

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Permalink Reply by FireFaye on August 8, 2009 at 7:03am

This is rather upsetting. Hooping is as much a part of music festivals as tents and bonfires.
Fortunately, it's not *all* bad. Hooping hasn't been banned at Musikfest. Rather, it looks like a couple of ignorant cops abusing their power.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1-5hula.6981325aug07,0,2328126...

"Both Musikfest spokeswoman Kim Plyler and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan said they don't have a problem with hula hooping.
Plyler said she was told about a police officer confronting hoopers during the Splintered Sunlight concert Wednesday night, but ''the Musikfest staff has not said no to hula hooping.'' She added there is nothing against hula hooping in the festival's rule book.
Callahan said Thursday afternoon was the first he had heard of the hula hooping flap at Musikfest.
''Hula hooping should not be frowned upon,'' he said. ''I think it is good exercise. I used to be quite the hula hooper in my day, though I think I've lost that ability.''
He said he has no problems with hoopers at Musikfest, but would caution that they be careful where they go because of large crowds."
and
"The hooping experience at Musikfest hasn't been all bad, though, Hemmerle said. During Tuesday night's Natural Breakdown concert, a group of hoopers danced along with the music. She said a police officer standing nearby had his eye on the group and complimented the hoopers after the show, telling them they did a good job of staying out of the way."

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Permalink Reply by Tangled Macrame on August 8, 2009 at 7:09am

Thanks for posting this, LaFaye. It's encouraging to hear...and nice to know the whole story.

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Permalink Reply by Jo-Ann on August 9, 2009 at 9:02am

Hi I'm Jo-Ann. The one who contacted Hooping.org and the Morning Call. I just want it said that the police were constantly telling hoopers that they had no problem with it and that they know it is silly but it is Musikfest's rules that they are enforcing. I think it's kind of funny that it is denied by everyone. If they had a good reason to ban hooping they would have stood by their rule and explained themselves to the paper. But anyhoo, I didn't do it to point fingers and play she said he said. I did it so I could hoop while some really awesome bands played. And since the article in the paper nobody has been stopped from hooping.
I can't wait to hoop during Crosby, Stills and Nash tonight.
Peace.

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Permalink Reply by Kinetic Kristen* on August 8, 2009 at 7:15am

Grr.....I read this yesterday too. And there are a lot of people, not just police, who believe hooping shouldn't be allowed at festivals as it's "a nuisance." No more of a nuisance than frisbee or people dancing. At Bonnaroo, there would be plenty of room to walk past me at the few shows I actually hooped at and some people would walk straight towards me! I guess they hoped I would hit them with my hoop but I always edged away before they got hit.

People can just be ignorant about things they don't understand and don't want to understand simply because it is not their cup of tea. Oh well, I'm just going to keep on keeping on with my hoop! :-)

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Permalink Reply by Bonnie BonesInspired on August 8, 2009 at 11:57am

That's ridiculous! I'd be very upset if I were told I couldn't hoop at a festival.
I think they're just jealous that they can't let loose and have a good time...and abusing their power indeed!

People do tend to crowd and walk into the hoop though which can be annoying. I've had a number of people walk right into the hoop and give me a nasty look. You find a good, open spot to hoop and then everyone comes by and think they have more of a right to pass by than you do to hoop there.

It's really too bad that there were people there to spoil the fun but I hope everyone still got a chance to hoop and have a good time! I mean hopefully they weren't being so anal for the whole ten days.

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Permalink Reply by Louzilla on August 10, 2009 at 4:14pm

I work for Musikfest, and whenever I saw people hooping there it brightened my day a little bit... and also made me jealous that i couldn't join them.

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Permalink Reply by Diane on August 11, 2009 at 10:15am

sure i'd be upset if that was happening at a local fest in my area, but honestly it really doesn't surprise me. i''ve had to relinquish my hoops to enter things, and have also been threatened by security to have them taken away.

there are definitly people who are resentfull of hoopers. we take up a lot of space. and people seem to be bothered by teh fact that they can't roam around blindly while they're partying. what i have to look up? stupid hoopers!

in response to Monsieur des Epaules Poilues, i'm not worried about big music festivals at all. but i can definitly see smaller local festies going this way. there's more out raged townies who are offended by our space consumption, or think we're just show offs who are wrecking their good time in some way. plus there's just not the space! it only takes one angry person getting hit and making a big stink about it. think about how big a few streets blocked off is in comparison to a gigantic field?

how we can combat this as a community is just to keep instilling good hoop ettiquette in our friends and any new hoopers. sharing the space is really important if we want to be able to hoop out and about! the more you hoop out tho the better you get at the visual scan as you turn when you're hooping. i'm always on the lookout. making sure my space is still clear! i use a lighter smaller hoop now so any accidental bumps with other people aren't so bad. and i'm extremely apologetic. it also helps to have a friend who's not hooping just watching. having a friend just tap on the shoulder of someone who's walking and not watching and just point at you hooping is a very effective and subtle way to say "watch out!"

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Permalink Reply by Diane on August 11, 2009 at 3:03pm

i guess that any event could really ban hoops.

the things that still seem most likely to me are local-ish things. walking day festivals. things attended by senior citizens and drunks a like. the jazz and heritage festival might have a lot of people in attendance, but it's a more mixed crowd, which ups the probability of someone being upset about the hoops for whatever reason. they didn't know there'd be people threatening to spill their drinks! they've never seen that kind of thing before and they'll be damned if they have to sit back and accept that kind of bother!

as far as liability.... i was saying i wasn't worried about big music festivals. i meant like camp out music festivals. things that you have to sign a waiver to enter. packed with people who are less likely to complain about a hoop to head accident, or a spilled beer. and even if they did complain, i dont think it would matter. take something like bonaroo for instance, it would take much more to get hoops banned from events like that. the promoters are aware of the significance in their scene and know people'd be pissed.

altho i guess anythign could happen. so we'll just do our best to be courteous and share the space

people do walk right into you tho! if you're fucked up and walking looking at the ground, who's fault is that? o.O i've gotten better at watching for those people. but sometimes common sense escapes them! i've seen unobservant people, look up in time and not walk directly into me "oops glad i looked up" and then they would try to seak past closely on one side. say the hoop is rotating towards my right, and they try and sneak by quickly on my left. it doesn't work like that! it goes around one side and comes right around on the other! hoop to face. sorry? but that was your genius move.

i try to be courteous and observant, but if people are going to walk right into me, it's beyond my control in those situations. it's frustrating. :(

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Permalink Reply by Jo-Ann on August 12, 2009 at 8:11am

"At least we have a better hobbie than getting completely drugged up at festivals."
Thank you! Totally agree! My partying days are over and I could care less. Mostly because I find so much joy from hoop dancing!
I think my whole point to making the "no hooping at musikfest" public is because of how stupid it was when I was approached. I was doing no harm. There was no body there but me, my family, and one other hooper. I had more room where I was hooping than I ever did at any festival. I wasn't in the middle of a lawn I was off to the side behind vending tents. Another place we were told to stop hooping was behind a stage. Yes we were soo out of the way we were behind the stage!

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Permalink Reply by Amanda/Red on August 12, 2009 at 9:19am

I didn't realize there are hoop haters in the world! Some hoop friends went to Memphis in May and hula-hoops were not allowed. They still snuck some through the back! We were invited to hoop at a show at The Blue Note and the staff said we could only hoop in the balcony. Which if you've ever been, the venue is already kinda limited in space and it's just non-sense and dangerous to hoop above people. Most hoopers I know are respectful of sharing the space and make sure no harm to is done.

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Permalink Reply by Hoopnotiq on September 1, 2009 at 2:30pm

I ran into the same thing at Memphis in May.

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